Doing my best to crowd the already over-crowded blogosphere.

Menu

‘Will you Cross the Skies for Me?’

So finally yesterday I managed to finish watching ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’ on my Iphone. That also in a span of 2 days, which mind you, is a great accomplishment for me these days with the new job and a feisty 5 month old son.

But yes, inspite of the ‘I-will-watch-for-10-minutes-and-pause’ sessions, credit card sized viewing screen and lots of background noise (read traffic sounds and baby googoo-gagas), I have managed to fall in love with the movie 🙂

Silambarasan: Now this chap seems to have outgrown from the roguish boy-man he was to a full-fledged serious actor. Only seen him with Jyothika in Manmadhan before and he has managed to pull off another good performance (light applause sounds)

Outline:

Boy Karthik falls for girl Jessy. Jessy relents initially but soon gives into Karthik’s charm. But hold on, there’s a teeny-weeny problem. Theres always a problem with desi parents isnt there? 😀 She is a Mallu Christian girl and he is a Tamil Hindu guy. Wow that’s two red crosses in the marriage checklist – religion and state. So the story goes on as the two sets of parents huff and puff their disapproval. As for how it all ends, here’s a disclaimer for the readers:

“If you have no intention of watching the movie, then you can go ahead and read the Plot paragraph below. But if you have mentally ticked this off as a ‘must-watch-if-I-can’ then try to maintain the suspense. It’s worth it.”

What I loved about the movie:

-The train scene:

Most Indian movies have one amazing train scene.

Think SRK stretching out his hand for Kajol in ‘DDLJ’ and that delicious tingly tune of ‘Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam’ in the background,

Or the very charming Surya (drool, drool) with a guitar wooing a coy Sameera Reddy in a tiny train compartment in ‘Varanam Ayiram’

Or Madhavan(drool, drool, droooool) pursuing Shalini on the daily local in ‘Alaipayuthe’

Ever wondered why the same magic does not happen in foreign train scenes..(exception being DDLJ ofcourse)?Every year, our producers spend crores of money dressing up our actors and actresses in fluffy coats and boots, oh definitely high-heeled boots for the girls 🙂 and place them in some glossy train zipping through Switzerland. The poor light-haired locals are instructed to shake their heads in sync and look suitably pleased as our hero and heroine croon out some love song. And God help the movies in which they even drag some sodden poor mite to utter something like ‘Yahi to pyaar hai’ in their Western accents. Accents, a nasty post coming on that soon and those who fake it left and right!!! I mean technically foreign trains have better seating, better lighting, no toffee wrappers and cigarette butts squished in the corners of the seats and wonderful rolling view of some green mountains outside. And don’t forget the threatened blonde-heads who are nodding in sync to the song puzzled over whether the film crew has hijacked the train or what???

And yet nothing beats a lovely desi train scene. The compartment walls and seats flaunting the governments favourite colour of blue or yellow. Rubbish artfully stuck into all crevices, the faithful chai-wallas and hordes of relatives coming to see someone off. Dim lighting, rusty window grills through which many a lover has bid a teary farewell (I am thinking Kamal Hassan doing that damnably good act in the railway scene in ‘Sadma’). And most of all, that gentle soothing rythmic lull of the train as it choo-choos its way through the tracks. Indian Railways zindabad!!

So now I have totally deviated from the original topic. Train scene in VV. Keeping in mind that our Jessy is from a well-off family, she travels in AC coach not the general compartment. So the scene that I have built up before you of the Great Railway Romance has to be altered slightly. Appear curtains on the windows, and a slight chill from the air-con. Jessy and Karthik sit side-by-side, Karthik skillfully inching closer and closer.

It’s an overnight journey from Allepey to Chennai. And the two have all the time in the world. The train scene is intertwined with a song as well. One thing leads to another and Karthik ends up kissing Jessy. I am giving a very pathetic narration of the scene, but you need to watch it to understand it properly. So this is also a pivotal moment in the story where Karthik understands that there’s a ‘fantastic chemistry’ between them.

– Jessy is older than Karthik by a year. This lends originality to the plot and of course poses additional problems for the two. Quoting one of Karthik’s dialogues which goes something like “Even when you are 50 years old, and I am 49, I will still be waiting for you…”

– Jessy is an MCA graduate working for Polaris and Karthik is an engineering graduate dreaming of directing a movie someday. We all totally relate with that right? Theres a scene where Jessy and Karthik’s sis are checking out Jessy’s Facebook profile. And the exchanging of mobile nos and constant smses of ‘Y no reply?’ .Yup, havent we all done that at some point?

– Everybody is playing their part to the T without overdoing it.

Jessy (hereby referred to as J) is your typical girl next door. Theres no wind blowing wisps of her hair off her face or any dupatta or saree pallu flying tricks in the movie.

Karthik (hereby referred to as K) is the normal middle-class youngster, medium height, sometimes unshaven, owning a bike and a mobile and loving Jessy in a mature andpractical way.

K’s friend is played by this really funny typical Tamilian looking man who gives him all this comical advice and who is K’s faithful companion throughout his adventures to win Jessy.

– My understanding of Tamil is basic but even I could get through the movie without subtitles. The Tamil is simple and finally dialogue writers have understood that most young couples would be professing their love by saying a simple ‘I love you’ instead of ‘something …Kaadhal ..something’. So there’s a fair smattering of English mixed with Tamil which makes it all the more believable.

– There are songs but they are mixed with the movie scenes and dialogues so that you don’t feel the urge to fast forward on the song. I heard it’s supposed to be an A R Rahman musical or something.

Things I dont like:

– Trisha’s Malayalam sucks. They could have got someone to dub for her. Or may be its intentional because she’s a Mallu brought up in Chennai. But I cringed each time she said anything in Malayalam.

– The fact that J and K meet in US after 5 yrs is a teensy bit unbelievable, but the rest of the movie is good, so I am willing to overlook that.

Plot:

Once J and K realise they like each other, J informs K that her marriage has been fixed. But she walks out on the groom the day of the marriage. Then there’s a brief period of 6 months where the two blissfully dilly-dally around in Chennai. Then K goes off to Goa to assist in a movie and J’s parents try to hook her up with the guy she dumped at the altar before. She tries to explain to K but he’s busy with the film shooting. Their breakup is swift and sudden and J asks K to leave her alone.

Fast forward to 5 years later, K is all set to direct his own movie. He has a chance meeting with J on a bridge in US and he realizes she never did get married after all .So the two lovers get married. And just when you begin to think “whaaa-whaaaat??? That’s too unreal”, the movie goes on to show that the last happily ever after bit was only K’s imagination and he has made his directorial debut with a movie called ‘Jessy’ based on his real life. In the last scene, a now married J asks K to move on with his life and try to forget her. The End.

The movie is worth watching at least once.

Is it theatre-watching worthy? Yes

Is it home-watching worthy?Ofcourse

More than once? Some scenes are worth watching again, especially if you’re bit of a romantic like me

Personal Rating : 7/10

Author’s Note : I have a Facebook fan page which is starting to show signs of dehydration in terms of fan count. So if any of my kind readers would do me the favour of going and liking my page, ‘ppreciate it a lot!

Post navigation

22 thoughts on “‘Will you Cross the Skies for Me?’”

well narrated with attention to subtle details that are so romantically captured in the movie, especially the allepey & the train scenes. i think u shud go on to write more of these reviews that capture the essence & life that is there in these movies.

Haneena dearest,yes ur right! I shud have taken up as a career wat I lov doing best.. N yet bcos of d ‘ desi parent syndrome’ I joined d flock of engineering students ..LOL.. nyways hoping dat this time round I will b more regular in updating my Blog 🙂 n keep d comments coming ..

ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyy gooooooooddd (To be read the Monica/Ross way)…That was a master class…You write SWELL girl!!!! that has to be the best review on VV that i’ve read…Wonderful work !!! and I’m pinching myself as i’m typing this… but it WAS FUNNY!!! ( i know i’m gonna regret this line for the rest of time :'(..)
a couple of things…trisha did not do the dubbing..it was done by chinmayi who’s sung “Anbil Avan”…the last song after they meet on the bridge…
And you could’ve mentioned Gautam and the cinematographer as well, considering what a fine job they’ve done…And ARR for the captivating BGM…
But nevertheless a wonderful read…
Keep writing… 🙂

Hey anoop,ofcourse as usual ur comments had me grinning wide then frowning a bit (pointing out my mistakes publicly!!!) then grinnig again 🙂 n ur right shud have written abt d songs n picturization.first time round ,I was so engrossed in d plot I didn’t notice.but the second time,I played it slowly pausing in bw to see the songs properly..sigh the movie is jus too gud

did watch it but then lost out on the essence and subtle nuances of the movie, thanks to my perfect understanding of the language. for once simbs did appear appealing and actually acceptable, sans his usual riffraffs. trisha, i thot was stiff as a board and highly expressionless. but then its worth a watch as it definitely was one with a difference. now may watch V A.

hahaha…..I can c u have wandered from the starry-eyed love days of most girls our age..gud for u.u hve matured fast. n then ders me with my head still stuck in d clouds still half-believing in goblins and unicorns and magical kisses 😉

Hey munchkins,
You have written well almost like a professional review,except those guys probably talk about box office statistics and stuff like that.
You spoke about what real people think.
I’m glad you gave an outline of the story.I don’t think I wanna watch it be’cos it’s sad and realistic.2words that’s got nothing to do with me.
Umma.Write on.

Nice one you have analyzed the movie to nuts and bolts but i felt it was little bit lengthy…(i don’t know whether i can say this b’coz I also write very lengthy posts).But it really a lot to write what ever you want Nothing else matters.As you have said dialogues were too good and it is a strong point of the movie. Good work.. 🙂